It is the field of study that examines patterns of growth, change, and stability in behaviour that occur throughout the entire human lifespan (Feldman, 2000, p. 5).

3Development

refers to the changes over time in the body and in the thinking or other behavior of a person that are due both to biology and to experience.

4When does human life begin?

Human development begins at conception when the fathers sperm cell unites with the mothers ovum (egg cell). This one-cell (which is now fertilized) is called a zygote.

Conception happens through fertilization.

5

Once the sperm makes its way inside the egg, the head of the sperm ruptures, spilling the genetic material from the father (23 chromosomes) into the egg. There it joins up with the genetic material from the egg (23 chromosomes) resulting in 46 chromosomes (23 pairs).

Genetic sex is decided by the father. Normal chromosomal configuration for the male is XY and XX for the female.

The time from conception to birth is the prenatal period.

6PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT 7PRENATAL STAGES

Divided into three stages

Germinal stage,

Embryonic stage

Fetal stage

8 GERMINAL STAGE

Once the sperm fertilizes the egg, the first new cell of the unborn child is called the zygote. It begin to move down the fallopian tube towards the uterus. As it travels it undergoes rapid cell growth and form into a hollow ball called a blastocyst.

This process takes about two weeks and lasts from the time of fertilization until the blastocyst implants itself into the wall of the uterus.

9(No Transcript) 10THE EMBRYONIC STAGE 11 THE EMBRYONIC STAGE

This period lasts until the eighth week (lasts about six weeks weeks 2-8).

Begins with the implantation of the zygote into the wall of the uterus. Most of the cell divisions, as well as the formation of organs, take place during this stage. By the end of this stage we can identify the face, eyes, ears, fingers, and toes.

Two months after conception, this stage draws to a close.

12FETAL STAGE 13FETAL STAGE

It lasts from week eight to birth next 7 months (months 3 to 9), which occurs about 40 weeks after conception the developing child is now called the fetus.

Internal organs have developed, but not enough for the fetus to sustain life outside of the uterus. The brain has also developed.

A crucial part of the developing child is the brain and the connections that are being made in preparation for later interaction with the world.

14ENTRY

After 9 months, 40 weeks, 270 days the fetus is ready to enter the world.

15 Environmental Influences on Prenatal Development

Maternal Age

Maternal Health and Nourishment

Infectious Agents

Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use

Alcohol

16Maternal Age

Very young mothers are at a greater risk for having miscarriages or having children with birth defects.

Research shows that the greatest success rate is for mothers in their twenties

It is said that the incidence of prenatal defects or abnormalities increases with age, especially for first time mothers.

17Theories cited to explain this phenomenon.

1. Older mothers have older ova. Through aging the ova might be more likely to be defective in ways that affect development.

2. Older mothers bodies are older too and this in itself may cause imperfect implantation.

18Maternal Health and Nourishment

Maternal malnutrition often leads to an increase in miscarriages, stillbirth, and premature births.

Deficiencies in specific vitamins and minerals affect the prenatal organism. For example, a mothers calcium deficiencies affect the development of bones and teeth in the fetus. However, it is the mother who suffers the most.

19 Infectious Agents

Mother can pass on diseases to their fetus through the placenta - Placenta is the structure in the uterus that protects and nourishes the growing child.

Rubella German measles can cause blindness, deafness, or heart disease in the fetus if the mother contracts this illness during the first four weeks of pregnancy.

Other diseases that can be transmitted to the infant include chicken pox, mumps, tuberculosis, malaria, syphilis, herpes AIDS.

20Smoking

How smoking affect the fetus is not known.

It could be that it reduces the oxygen or the blood supply to the fetus.

It could be that the tar and nicotine of smoking act directly as poisons.

What is known is that cigarette smoking is a cause of retarded prenatal growth.

21ALCOHOL

Alcohol is also injurious to unborn children.

Alcohol is quickly and directly passed through the placenta from the mother to the fetus.

The fetus eliminates alcohol at half the rate of the mother.

The bottom line is that alcohol gets in and stays in for a long time.

22DRUGS

Mothers who use or abuse psychoactive drugs during pregnancy cause considerable problems to their unborn children.

Such children enter the world with low birth weights, difficulty regulating their sleep-wake cycles.

Worst, they are born addicted and suffer the pains of withdrawal and require a hospital stay averaging 42 days.

23What about the Fathers?

The main issue revolves around factors affecting the quality of the fathers sperm at the moment of conception.

For example, it was assumed that Down syndrome was more likely as the mothers age increased. We now recognize that the fathers age is related in some cases of DS.

24

As many as 1/3 of all DS cases reflect difficulties with the fathers sperm and that the syndrome is more likely in children whose fathers have jobs working with toxic chemicals.

Alcohol use by fathers has also been implicated as probable cause of prenatal and birth abnormalities.

Problem is that nearly all this research has been on rats and mice.

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